~ Ralph 'femple • September, 2003

5T. AUGUSTINE, 1964

"yoo niggl"f-lovin' )ew-lawycr5. we know ",,-hdt y' r do ,n' , \ "11' waitin ' I'W""', yew Il.onn<l get ,t Hear ml', boy ?"

"Yellh, SUfi',' I replit'd inlo the lctt'f)ilone. ''you get tll<l! Mr. Cummings -you l;et the FlU l1ace on that?'

I he blu!f worked ; the ;;Inonymous cal ler riling up ~ brupt ly. There was no Cummings, no ril l.

Contrary 10 Ihe 1988 film, 'M issbsippi Burn ing.. ' in w hich Gene n "ckman ;$ the f BI agf'n! who puts the musc le on Ihe Ku Klux Kiln, a nd rescues the helples~ hlad: community. the FB I' s role io the c iv il righ ts llJ.tt1f"S was unre liable ~ t best .md suhversive at worst. Almost one-th ird Dime I 81 agents in the So uth were them;;elves Southerne rs, sleeped in the cul llire of segregation, .'I nd most oi the rest were detached, pass ively resiSt ing the struggle of African-Americans. The FBI 's ~rve-and- .epolt mO(le is exemplified by the f BI's Ku KluJI Klan operaliv~

who sa t by whlli' three o ther K1,lnsmcn .... 'im him , in a drive.by shooting.. killed Viold liUZZa, il fo rty-ty,'o·yea r o ld white housC\¥iie hom Octroi t who was a volun teel in arl A!dbama voter reg istration drive, FB I d irecto r J. Edp,a r Hoover ( ood uc tCd su lVe il lilr1CC of Dr. Martin luthe r King, Jr: s adulterous affa irs, hopint: 10 destroy his If>adership. The FBI didn't r~nJ~ Southe rn blacks; bl.::rck people themselves w~ed the .. ..,ar w ith hundreds of Northern whilCS like Mrr; . Liuuo comin!,: 10 Icnd a hand.

GOING SOUTH

T h<lt was why I was in St. AVfjustille, Florid,1, io r IWO weeks in AU!::IJst 1964. I was th iny- IWO yeaf', oln. eight years out o i 1.-1W school. Ark'< grilduating in

19 56. I worked at the N!v\ CI' l ega l Dcfens!: Fund in New York Crty 10<" Thurgood ,'v\ar, ha ll , the lead ing c ivi l rights lawyer of the time ilnd late r the iirs! black Supreme Court justice. I was drafted and spent two years in the Army at FI. Briljl,g, North Carol ina, fo llowed b~' foor years of teach ing law. In 1962, I went to work fm .... mold, fOtt.1s & Po rte r, onl' of Washinglon's iarl!est law Il mlS_

1

In luly 1964, Richard Sobol, another young .w;()cia! .. In the firm, introduced me to Henry Schwarzschild, who hOld reouited Sobol tor a stint of volunteer lavvyering with the civil rights movement Irl New Orleans. Henry, \Nith his ~ophi~tic:ated European manner and accent, though nut 01 lawyer, wa.s a passionate advocate, working out uf r-\ew York City for the Lavvyers Constitutional Uefense Commitlf'f', The LCOC had rf'cf'fltly been formed tu cope with whctt was to b€ the hottest summer oi the civil rights wars.

Thomas Hilbink's 112-page hi,tory of the LCDC credits its formation mainly to Mel Wulf, legal director of the American Civil Lihertif'S Union, and Carl Rachlin, generdl coun>el uf the Congress of Racial Fquality. The ma5S arrC"ls of black protesters werf' overv.'helming the few black lawyers in the South who would dare take on such cases. The few 'Anile lawyers .vilo did so, like Sill I'liggs in Mississippi and Chuck Morgafl in Birmingham. were rlm uut of town. Hilbink's history also describes the political problems in the formation of LCDC. The National Lawyers' Guild, although active in civil rights in the South, was excluded because sume thOl.,ght the group was tainted with Cummunism. jack Greenberg uf the N!v\CP Legal lJefense Fund {Inc. I'und;· was resistant to the forlThltion of LUX: for wh"t Hilbink describes as reasons of 'turf." and also bec~u$e Ihe Inc. FunJ 's approach was tu develop test cases methodically and carefully, not to send in platoons of volunteers inexperienced in civi I rights litigation.

Ililhink tells llS that in the spring of 1964 Wulf and Rachlan Jssemblcd a half dozen orgJnizations, including the National Council of Churches, the i\mICrican Jewish Congress, the American jewish Committee, Jnd the NAACP Inc. Fund. Fach contributed money or other re>ources, Hemy 5chwarz:slhild W;JS

hired tu round up and c(X}rdinate the operations, and in May 1964 the LCOC began seeking volunteers. The new org"nizcttiun oriented its re<:rU'\5 with ,j

critical guiding principle: lawyers were going South .. not to direct the civil rights movement, but to as~ist local African-Americans in the directions and ~ctivities they chose for them5<:'lvcs. This principle -- that the lawyer works for the client to achieve the client's ends, rather than dictating to the client _. is a luxury that had all too oilen been reserved ior the corporate world that could pay its lawyers ~nd therefore direct their ~ctiolls. Now the civil rights movement, too. would have that autonomy. On jurlC 6-7,1964, over one hundred volunteer lawyers attended a training and orientltiun session ~t Columhia Law School, and shortly after th~t. the first contingents were on their w~y South.

The idea was to fill the ranks by dsking Northern lav\'yers to spend their vac~tions on l'No-week Ictwyering gi8~ il1 the hot spots: Blmlingham, jackson, Memphis, New Orleans, and SI. Augustine, The multiple civij righl'; defenses ;ltld I~wsuits were conducted relay·race ~tyIIC, with each team of volunteers passil18 the litigation ba.ton every week ur two to a npw tf'am jllst arriving. Naturally, the twists. turns, and dynamics of even routine leg~1 actions are loo complicated to work with a constant changing oi the lawl'ers, Ipt alonp the often complex civd rights GISf'S col1ducted in hostile territory. So it would never work -- any experienced litigator knev.' that. But it did work. Powerfully.

2

On .';'pril 12, 1963, thl' I'ight Il'ading whitt' clergymen oi Birrningham, Alab<lmJ .- six ministers, a rabbi and a bishop -- issued il public ,\<ltl'lTlI'nt urging Martin luther Kin~ to call oii civil rights demon,trations in that city_ Ihe national media had hel'n tell'Vising police and thugs viciously attacking peaceiul black protestprs. The cle rgy men emphasized reform efiorts that were undprway. "111 Birmingham," they said, "recel1t public events h,we given indication that we all have ;lr1 opportuni ty for a new constructive and realistic approach to racial problems." They said that Dr. King and olhl'r ' outside ~gitators" were succeeding only ,n provoking violent re5pons.es and irlterfering with their reform elfort5. From prison, Dr. King responded in his classic 'Lptter From Birmingham City Jail: a deciar<ltion of what the civil rights movement was about. Passa~cs of lhal eloquent manifesto keep recu rring in my memories of that slimmer. In response to the charge that he was an outside agitator, Dr. King wroLe:

f 4»1 ha~, au",,~ with ,-£v"ai m"nbn-, afmy m,jf b~c4u,~ w~ wae ;nvil~d h~u .. Btpnd this, 1 am j" Birmingham bU4.w inju,'lia;, hi"ri". Just a, th~ Eighth century praphm 14i uyir /il;]" v;Ifdgt< and carri~d rbrir ";h", ",ilh t;'~ /,crlrfilr boond ,;-" /"mttdJritf of ,hdr bom, ro"'n .. imJj u,1 '" Ibt Ap~"/~ Paul kji bi, lirrU vi&g, of Tar",; arId mrrid the l!'''l'~! vi J"w ehr;,t to pr~cti<Il11)' t1"ry hamler and ciry qf th, Gratro"f{,,=m wvr1d, 1 100 ,"" camp~lled to carTY th~ g~Jl'd af frmu,m bqortd r".; p,jrlim/;u hom~ laum.

Ihose whites who went S<luth inthf' sixties Wf're iired up, driven bv the injustices of segregation, suppression. and violence, and inspired by Dr. King.

1 can"a; ,it idl} by j,., Att.rnlll am! >w I h, ronan-led "bo"l what hllpp~", i" FJ'rmmgh4m. In,wtia tmywh"t is Illhr<llt M j",riu ,wrywh~re. Wh4'WU affhts nne dm(lly, affia; alJ indinal] Nm ,,,. "gai" ,4" ~ affard to [,,'. wit/, If!~ narNw, prau;jJdal "'<m tIirit agi',"br" iM~. A"yom who Ii"" imid, th,' [jnir"a Srar", can neva b~ ,·tmsu:!m.J "" oul<id,,' ,m}wh,,~ i" Ihi, ca""try.

On the Sunday morning of August 1. 1964, on the ilight irom my home in Washington, fX. down 10 ['Iorida, I was exhilMated and nervous. There had bepn no shootings or bombings in SL Augustine ior Sf'veral months. I did not rt'ally f'XPKt danger, but my wiie Sallv, c.ulYing ou,. first child due In seven week~, was worried when sh(' saw me off <It the <lirport. and on the flight down I found Ih;J\ I was t(}(). The surnrner beiorc. Klansmen set off the bomb in a black Birmingham churr.h th,lt killed iour children, dgeU twelve LO sixteen. Only six weeks earlier, on June 21,1964, a sherirf in Phlladplph;a, Mis,;';sippi led a lynch mob that kidnapped and cnurdered three young civil rights workers, black Mi~sissippian James C:h,lnf'Y, <lnd two white ..... ortherners, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman. In SI. AUgllstine, protesters marching out of the black section to the historic slave market in the center of the city had been attacked by a white mob ,winging chains and clubs.

3

I '''''' '", 1 %4 )0 " "" B"",k, m,,',,<,!, " '" ,r.. """""" Mo '"' I 0',;"' P"''''," ~ ",A "" ~""'o" .""' "~ti",, t~ "';CSt"", ,,,,, poo l'

Newspapers across the CQuntlY had carried Cl front pa~c photograph showing the owner of Cl 51. August;rlc mOLci pouring acid into the s",immin~ pool wh!'r!' black t!'!'nagers were condulting Cl "swim-in,"

What Ur. King kId to 5Cly from the 8irmingh,lm jail was not far off the rnark for allth!' mJjor Southern lities:

Birmingh"m i; probably Ih~ mmt thoroughl)' ugr'gllted city in ti,t U,.,itd Sraw, Its ugly T£CNd olloNa b,.utality is known in nUJ ""lilln of thH mumr)' J IS ,mjmi marm""t oj' Negro" in tb~ ,oum is a "oron'o", mlbry :: f"" hat'~ hm mQr~ "flsoiv.d blm!bing< oj".-\';"grv homl'f "m! c/mrchn i" 8"-",;,,&",,,'n t/"", a"J ,-iIY ;J1 this narion,

St, Augustine is dos!' to the eJst coast uf Florida. up neM the top of that 10'1g ,tate, drld calls it,ell 'The Ancient City: oste'1sibly th!' nation's oldest At 11 :30 <I.n1, the plane IJnded in Jacbonvill e, forty mileeS south of th!' Georgia bordf'r ami, aftf'r Mi~llli, til!' sf'cond largest city in FluridJ, ~I;C Ch~mhlis, a voluntf;cr IJW student from Cal;romi~, met and drovf' me the thirty miles south Lo 51. Augustine, On the way, Eric described the office operation, the housing, and the ~ <:tivitif's in progre>,. At thp ofti~p I met my tvm t!'am r)IJtes, Alvin Dorfman, Clbout thirty, from Lung Island, New York, who had been therf' fnr J. week, dnd Martin lox, about fort,', who had arrived from New Jersey the n;~hL bdorp.

AI Dorfm.m llriefed us on the on-~oing court actions In til!' 10caiLOurts and in the f!'d!'ral COUlt in Jacksonville, and guidt-il us throu~h the file'S of the most imminent, We divided dssignments for the next few d~vs, M~rty lox and I were . . then introduced to Dr, Robert Hayling whme dental office ,,",'dS Ollr basc of operations - where several day~ Idter I received the threatpning t!'lephone ull jllst d<'Kribed.

4

0 1. Hayling was the leader of the local SClC, Dr. Ki ng's South~n Christian l eddership Conferencc_ The dental ofIke was in a one--sr.ory building just big enough for an anteroom, two rooms with dental chairs, and a loom with a desk. The anteroom was spacious <md had been cooverled to the lawyering busirleSS by the acfdition of I\\'O desks, a couple of small work t~ ble'5, three fou r-drawer fi ling cdbinets, arld eJ(tra phone lil'lf's.

Dr. Hayling's patients did not seem to m ifld, making their way around the bustling lawyers and law students . The office was s ituated just ~c ross the railroad tracks that were the borderline between St. Augustine-proper and Li ncolrlSvi ll e, which is what the 'colored ' section of the city was called.

Southern towns and cities atway<.i hat! col()(ed sections. 'T!w. COIOfed' were allowed 1.0 corne inl!! the regula, c ity only to work for whites. Public places in the white seaion always had !wo sets of rest lOOms and drinking loonlJ ins, malked ·white" and ·colored,' and black people were confined to a small a~,1 at the lkrck of buses_ Except for the black ghettOeS, African-Americans could not dine al lestaurants, go to the f1)ovi~, 0 1 even snack a t drugstore lunch counters.

Growing up in Miami, I WdS revol ted by thaI cultu re. In an episode when I was twelve, a group of us were standing near the rear of a crowded bus on our WilY to a ~turday matinee a t the Dixit'! Theater, whefl a white man, hav ing trouble sq ueezing past a black man, suddenly shouted, 'O ut of my way you gudddmn nigger, don't YOI! know 10 get out of the way fer a wh ite man, goddamn you.' and, turning to us, ' you boys oughllO ne lp me whip thi<; goddamn nigger to teilcn him a les5.On.' The black man appeared embarrasse-d and frightened. No one sa id anything, the white man Kot oli the bus, a rid we wen! on to our movie. y..11en I was finally home alone at the end of dIe day, I cried out the humiliation and rage I'd bottled up all day over the iocident.

DR. ROBERT HAYLING

Dr, Hayling was a big man, about six feel three inches tail with broad shou lders, short cropped hair, a wide face and thin mustache. His eyes and

voice were !>O ft, mellifluous, and reassuring. He was also somethi ng of a ri sk­taker. l ess than a year earliet, on Septembe.r 18, 1963, he and three fri fflds had spied on a Ku KluJ( Klan ra lly in an open field ~t the edge of some woods JUSt outside $1.. Augustine, Crouching in tOe woods, they had watched as the crowd of several hundred, many in Klao hoods and robes, had lit a laq;c cross then li stened to a lengthy harangue by one of the infamous Kb n figure'> of the times, Connie Lynch, a self·styled minister irom Alabama. Reverend Irvin Cheney, a white minister who was ass istant d irector 01 the f lo rida HUm.ln Relat ions Couod ', monilOrro the event from tne middle oi the crowd where he appeared 1.0 bt! just another Klan supporter. Cheney wrote a detailed descr iption of Ihe event, inc luding Connie Lynch's speech.

5

Excerpts of that dia lribe provide a glimpse of the pathology ot haLre<l:

My fri",Js, I !WOlf t~ 0f1H with ,/Jr. something of tfu hum", tht gloriolU J,ist~ry c( th~ Kbm. TiJ( Kk", IIIlIS 1m" out ofhkod-f!wi, CI<l tlfll tNl 'Iud w prol~I IJ;( SQUtJ1(ffl wh'~ ""m from th( (tlrp#bttU'm - tN fow Carpi/NIf"'. ~u !mow, oJ."'m~ tI~t the r,,,prNggm tI>Zt J(ft!$, IlM thq WIU down httr IlM ~ up with th. Nig,m " .. J lTiu UJ Ulh .""'Y'hitfJ; u,., whitt mil" ""d 8ul lhq krtmeJ thAlW ""'ill m(lJt ~Id lin

utV this lprg "-

l ynch called upon white people to take up arms to defend thei r way of life . Then, Reverend Cheney reported, Lynch addressed the chtm:.h bombing that ki lled the fou r black girls in Birmi ngham :

~fthq ("" fiNt ~ f dio= whtl timr th,,~ thry ""ght top;" mtd4ls qN them. s .... ttJ1U

uUi. "Au. 't ;1 " Jin..u Ultll u_ littt. milam' w.u ltiikd . ~ll. ;n vu fim Fua, thry 6j .. ',

firm. T1uy 'rr 14," 15 pn old - old --UJ 10 httlM" umn~dw.sn, ""i 111 «SJI7/ImM if o/i of m.. diJ,. " /J,,11t one or "",", I" Un JtCmi pUrr, thq wum', rhilbtn.. a~ flU

fink pmp/", link /nntu,. briwgr, IlIfIi m..f ~ will ... ~pk, ~'f link ,.,o~ hut JOI4 Jnz 't (49 than mild"". Thq 'rr jr«t litrk _,,;.ry,. Th,", !ink d4gJ tmd (".m oJ i>p4 fInd lNbottns ilM .d" nk aM, thl'tr 's d.~ littf" Niggm. Bur rhty 4in 't chifd~n. rIJq 'u just li1'lk Nige"' ,

l ym:h stirred the crowd and hirmelf:

And "' tIN rhirJ pt.", h WIlJn 'I _ rhlflfl( me, 1INI5!n1kt1. Why? ~ whm 1 C" Oil' rolriJi ftlttkPuim. I J,m ~ 1Iflfh lUI dijfu",u b._link nt~ "NI bix nt~, lurll1= I "- it is tIK,..am- "f cJJ ntttW.MA(I III br"" ~ IVU! III ~iso" "'" ifthry an.. s"IIriU 'mt ali, ""'" iftht-rr's four t... Nir,tm _."ghr, rk", I >ill> 'GuHfor ~(wr r/,znuri .;" bcmb. ' \tf',.,. IIU b"/I'r ~ff

As a ' ministe r,' Ly nch also ~ddrCS5ed the theological issues:

Som( pl~{r s.y p","! Wi'U 40 bt ;" hrllflm 1IJK.#'Mr. TIN htU wt wAf/! CJ,,/y God, J.rntiiy wiD« in '-~", """ N7gr-n IlndJiWJ 4in i GoJ'fomil]. A;,,~ C"- bt "" IInimAk in 1mwm.1VU! a.,.'t 1"'''''' In lUI ...... . fpmiirjQlf rhrrr. II 's justa ""'- _ !'Npk lmtught ~ blm:1t "nm.ah OM' hrrr. altimtlh hirftlJ ntDugh J,wlopd III Ih.tt tMir ffflI (II" mix wi:h fM'- r ted .. .

5<Jmr cf0( Niggm <4)\ m want t~ C" III ]'JfH churrhrs. ' Tk,.,. fli" t ,,",t ont: rna"", Christian ,h"'t III r4J whm thq try; " .. d tI"lt it III mttt m. ill the ~h ~UI( dotrr with " bl&b4tI bal lind bu.: th,." I ... ",,, Dltt.

Reverend Cheney reported \.hat lynch then tu rned his atten tion to Dr, Hayling himself, who was secretly witnessing the event.

6

ill lell }OU 50mubi"z eke. Yo" 'Vf gal a l'''igga in Sr. A"gu<lini rhar ought nOf to

liv~ - t;'l1, burr-b"uid b115"1m of 11 d£1II;'1. JJ~! gOI no right 10 live M all, IN donr willi< lip and tWW" your sirew and b"tltf}~ I!J~ 'white man! ft<'~ ~;r. He m'ghr to W<lk~ up romorrow mot'ili,,! lI'ilh 11 bulla b.'tween hi, 'Y", 1fJ<i" Wtr~ h"/flbe men you claim to be you'd kill him /;1';" ,'''''liP

I<everend Cheney relatcos th~t Lynch Wf'nt on ior In hour and iiftet'n minute;;. I hf' next spf'akf'r WilS dull, and th .. crowd, growing bored, h<id dwiflJled down to <ibO\Jl a hundred. At that monlCliL when something was needed to enlivf'n thoSl' rf'maining, they got it. Ur. Ilayling ,lnd his thlee companions were caught at gLlIl-point by Klansmell coming up behind them in the woods

The four w .. le hauled beror .. the crowd, which howled for their bl[){){], Several womcn scre'amcd, "Cut off their balls!' As rJr. Hayling and his three (omp<inions were being be<iten bluody with ch<iins, bdseb<ill bats, dnd <iX handles, Revcrend Cheney heard one robed Klanswoman whisper to her husb~rtd, ' Go get thf' headchopper <ind the rope, dnd for God's sdke, t.lke off YOI.Ir robe and ledve it In life car. You don't wartt to mess it up." Cheney e~5ed his way out oithe crowd to go fur h~lp.

He got tile police who came and got the beaten victims out of there. All four w~le hospitalized, some for <is long as r.velve deWS. Ihe mub h<id broken Dr. Hayling's wrists. Typic,ll ol50uthern 'law enforcement,' the police mad" minor ChMg~S <igdinst only fO Llr of the Klilnsmen. who we,re thell exonerated by a racist 111agistrate, G. Marvirt Grier. Dr. Hayling ~nd his thlee companions were chargFd with assaul t, trespass, emc! other crime<;. Among th~ piles 0( civil right leailt'ls around Ur. Ilavling's oliice was one with a photogr<iph of him proppeJ up in d h05pital bcd, his wrists in casts. I was glad to ie,lrn from his firm grip when we met thdt his hdnds were dll right.

[Jr, "01"," H.')'i"'e ;n ho,,",,1 ,,'cO "'."0 b"" , n "" .. ," ",,,,, .. .0 r",'n .1. ..... , "1< bv o ,,,>t>, I%J

[Jr. H.lyliog (~rlbcd tu Marty .1n rl me the oiliCt' 10ullOM, !hl' town, til<' ddi ly ma f(:h~ and prote$! activity, and our hOII, ing. Each I)f u.~ WiI.> ~ss ig:nt'd to ~tay with res i~ts (If Lincolnsvi lie who hird (If/I' red to put up t h ~ North f' lTI visitors. We would wa lk down the poorly >J~ved streets without sidl?wJlh to the old woodt>n ~hack~ of OlJr h05t~, JS much as a rlli le from our del"ltal off icC' he.mquilncrs. My room Wil~ in the hou:oe of a ~ma ll dilrk-skinncd old IJtty who lived the.e with her lovdy n il)etl't'n·)"f'~l r-old srandd\ughler, a domestic worker. I hey were dellg.h ted to have ffif'. artd thcir affectiun, the old bed, and lh~ balh ruh were grea.t cumforts d lJring my sr.l Y.

Or. Hayhng concluded hi , introductQry t.'llk to us with ;~ff'ly cautions. "Don't f'ver go into 51. Ow-gosline,' h€ drilwled, ref"ning to the whi te >e<; tion of the city, ' e xc~t in the dilY time, and, then, (lilly in the compJ oy (If o;o n1f'onc else. A lwJys 1,,1 ,OITlCO!1e hert' know wherC' you 're go ing Jnd whPon you'll be b'Kk I lew you're Sdft'~ yOl.l ('; 1\ go anywhere in Li nco l n~vi ll " any ti mE' of the dilY or n i{!liI. Everyol)!' in lown knows why you boy~ are here .•

HI" "deled. ·U~ to be lhat the Manlll)'S would come . idint: thlOugh hert! at night, f i .ill~ guns, Sf'nmg fires, ra ising hell."

H.t t'>t .. ad 'H~' Manllcy, a horse-Iacoo man stlunmg al~lund in ii cowbor Ildt dJ1(J boot~, his huSt' belly oVf!fh(lngins hi~ bel t Imt", led a family uf brothers and C:OUSIrlS wht) ;yelP. the core of the IOCil l KLI KILI)( Klan , m~squer~ di ng Linder the Ilame, "Ihe AnClenl City Gun & Ilunti ng Club"

Dr. Hayling S<l id, "They shot-gun ned my ho u.~" lils15ummer, and woundf'(J 'orne boys standing outside. And they'vc burned up a few homes with Molotov cOl ~ tl iJ5. Just six months i1go, they caml! thrOl.lgh here and ~hot Ul> my Ixm<e dgOl m. Killed my dog, and a lmost hit my prej3llant w ile." I hen his iar, !, turned gentler and his voice softe r and he s<l id, ' Bul a ll that slopped thl'C(' months ago. 1 ht'y came in aCM:. the railroad (ralks one night io a pick-up Ifvlk. Churk MJnllc), was driving, ,lnn Tom Morr is ( ~ PSeudonym ) ''''<is s itting (le)(\ to him with a l o~ded shotgun ilr!"OSS his I&p, wh co a bul le1 hi t him righl here," he sa id, pressing his index fin ger firmly ~nd tl~jtl y betwef!n his "yc~ .<1 the middle of the lorehe;;d.

,

"They claim Johnny-Lee Brown (a pseudonym) did it. and they been holding him in jail on a murder charge. But they've got no proof; h!"11 get out. ' A slight smile. 'So they don't come through Lincolnsville any more; you're safe here:

For the first few days, every time I stepped out the door of Dr. Hayling's office, within, say, a shot-gun blast of white SL Augustine, a frozen sensation would ripple down my chest and stomach. Throughout my stay J was on edge each time I had to venture into the whi te section of the city. But I muld walk home alone sometimes as late as two in the morning, feeling completely safe. Violence, of course, was not the way 0( the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King drew his strength from his Christian faith and from the inspiration of Mahatma Gandhi, and, like Gandhi, preached non-violence. But I was grateful to the maverick whose gunshot into a Manucy car had made me feel safe in Lincolnsville.

JUDGE BRYAN SIMPSON

Marty Fox, AI Dorfman, and I got going the next day, Monday, preparing legal documents arld visiting the local court hOllse in SI- Augustine and the federal

court in Jacksooville, <lbout an hour's drive away. The office staff of the clerk of the local court brist led; we were definitely in hostile territory. With care, we pushed for the files we'd come to inspect, and got them.

The federal court in jacksonville, fo rmally c~lled the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, was different. The judge of that court, Bryan Simpson, white-haired and maybe fitty-iive, was a bom and bred Southern gentleman. He had responded early on to Civil rights la'W"yers with disparaging comments and unfavorable rulings. But the mounting injustices and violence against black peop~ that were repeatedly brought to judge Simpson's attention had a profound effect on him, <lnd he had changed.

Judge Simpson warmly welcomed us into his oak paneled office, shook our hands, and waved us into chairs in front oi his large desk. 'So you're the new team; he said with a smile. 'Where are you gentlemen from?"

We chaned in this comfortable fashion for some lime before coming to the main order of business. We were there to enforce the desegregation of public facilities required by the newly erlacted Civil Kighls Act of 1964. This new federal statute had been passed by the Congress and signed into law by President I.yndon johnson on july 2nd, just a month earlier, a m<ljor victory for the civil ri ghts movement. The new battle was to force compliance with the law, to dismantle the three-hundred year old jim Crow tradition. In St. Augustine and other key cit ies in the South, black people were pressing forward, going to restaurants, hotels, and other places of public accommodatiOil, no longer having to sit-in, because for the first time in the Ofle hundred year, since the Civil War, the law was on their side.

9

At first, 5L AUgusLin(> busint";Ses begdJl to comply with the new law and to provide nondiscriminatolY service. They reverY'd course when they found themselves the object of dernonstrdtions and threats by the Ku Klux Kldn. tarli!"r in the summer our I CDC predecessors had filed suit against seventeen SI. Augustine restdurdnts and motels,. d,king the federdl court to order them to obey the law, and seeking an injunrtion against Hoss Manucy and his g~ng to restrain tI-.em from intimidating the business owners and the black people see~ing service. Judge Simpson had conducted a hearing the week before Mdrty and I arrived. We asked wh~t the Judge w~s going to do. I Ie s~id, 'I have read ~II the documents and, at last week's hearing, listened to the at')Suments of both sides. I'm ready to rule, and on Wednesday I'm going to i5~Ue the order you fellows h~ve heen alter.'

'Do you wdnt us here for that?" asked Marty rox. 'Are we <lnd the opposing lawyers going to have to be prepared with ~nythingl'

"Not righl away," >did Judge Simpson. ' I'll wait a day or two ;;fter I've issued the order to give the businesses a chance to ask me to st<lY the order <;0 that they have time to iile an appeal from my ruling."

"We don't think they should be able to delay (omplidnce with the order, Your Honor: Mdrty said. ' It's plainly right, ~nd they have had plenty oi time to g .. t reildy for this'

'Just th .. same,' the Judge s~id, "I'm leaning towards leUinS; them h.tve J slay so they CJn JppeJI. rhel'e'~ a similar case going from the LJ .5. District Court in Atl~nt<l up to the United Stales Supreme CourL 1 will want to see what the Supreme Court is going to do with that. In the meantime, I think you all should wait and not have your people pushing it. " In shorL Judge Simpson wanted no more demonstrations or i\frildn· Americans a,king for service ~t white places whd .. lhe resolution of this casE' was pending. He wanted things to remain as cdlm as possible in SI. Augustine. Mart)' and I h~d anticip~ted this and had discus>ed it with Dr. Hayling.

"I hey're pretty imp~lient, at this point, Your Honor," I said. 'I don't know that they'll be willing to wait dny longer now that thp law is de~r."

'Sure," said Judge SimP5on, "I understand that. But they may have to wait a little longer anyway, just to let this lawsui t rim its coursP. Anyw~y, illter I've issued the injunction. I'll hedr arguments from both sides about a stay'

Marty and I were exchanging glances, tryinr, to keep Ollrselves aligned during the dialogue. At this point we ieLl it was time to stop pushing. We stayed awhile longer, conLinuing to get to know Judge Simpson. We left quite h~ppy; we had good news for Dr. Hayling. The injunctions against the motels. the restdurants, and the Klan were coming the day dfter tomorrow.

10

Our next stop was at the office of one of our bosses, Earl johnson, an African-American, the leading civil rights attorney in jacksonville. He asked that one of the three of us stay in jacksonville to work with him on a daily basis. We clustered among ourselves and found that none of us wanted to leave 51. Augustine. AI Dolimarl finally said he'd do it.

Marty Fox arid Isperlt Tue>day moming fumbling with the files, which, with all the lawyers streaming irl and out of town, were a mess, We had lunch at a diner across the street from Dr. Hayling's office, a place that became uur social center whenever there was time to spare in the days that followed. There we got to hobnob with the folks of Lincolnsville, and to eat the biggest richest peach ice cream cones I've ever had.

In the aiternoon, Marty and I went to the local county court house in St. Augustine to check court records on some pending lawsuits. We again met resistance from a woman in the clerk's office, but she remained pleasant even while digging in her heels, and finally yielded to Marty's gentle pressure without getting riled.

We also wanted to get a look at judge Charles C. Mathis, Jr., the county judge who we had been warned was hard core Southern resistance. In July 1963, alter seven African-American children under fo urteen years of age had been arrested for picketing against a whites-only restaurant, judge Mathis required their parents to sign promises that the childrei1 would not participate in any more protests. When the parents of four refused to sign, Judge Mathis had the children locked up in the county jail.

We slipped into his courtroom while he was conducting a trial of a white man charged with possessing moonshine whiskey -- liquor distilled and sold without benefit of tax stamps in violation of state and federal laws. The defense lawyer, being creative in a normally routine lase, cross-examined the arresting police officer, asking him how he knew the m(xJnshine in issue was illegal. 'I never heard of legal moonshine,' answered the officer. The lawyer then produced a jar oi clear liquid labeled "Georgia Moonshine' that bore the required tax stamps, and asked the officerto smell the contents. The policeman sniffed the jar, shook his head, grinned sheepishly, and acknowledged, "Yep, that's moonshine all right,' thereby undermining his testimony that moonshine is always illegal and allowing the lawyer the classic gesture of turning away with a triumphant, 'No more questions.' Marty and) did oot wait around to be disappointed, convinced from his comments that judge Mathis was going to find the accused guilty anyway.

That night we traveled in a convoy of three cars from Lincolnsville to church meetings in the nearby ci ties of Gainesville and Ocala. Southern black churches, normally live ly, were tame com[¥red to the energy we saw that night. Standing, swaying, sweating, shouting, Amening, arms locked, singing 'We Shall Overcome' and 'We Shall ro.:ot Be Moved' and "Let My People Go,' the people were ablaze with the Jubilation of the Call, the Call with which the preachers, echoing Dr. King, roused their followers: ' Free at last, free at last, great God Almighty, I'm free at last!' They were, as Eli Wiesel called 19th century Hassids, souls on fire.

11

\Ve stayed lale. a'5 IhE' communities prepared for Or_ King's return (051. Augusli fle the next day. Two monl hs earl ier, on June 11, 1964, Or. King had been .1rre:sled here for sitting in at a res taurant He hild left jail two days laler to <KCepl an hOJlOrary degree at Yale, and prior to his departure had promised 51. AuguS) ine ·a long hot summer" of demonstratioos and legal OIctions. Now hoe was retuming, on August 5th, to hold a press conference coi nciding with Judge Simpson's order requiring the town's hotels and restaurants to comply with the new law.

The court order was significant beyond its immediate purpose of opening hotels and restaurants to African.Americans. It W(lS aimed (It the pov.-er structure that had held the walls of segregation in place throughout the Sooth: the respectable citizerlS of the bU$il\E'SS communities arld their shock trOOPS· the racist police and the Klan . The aim of the civil rights movement was 10 force the w hite establ ishmenl lO excrt its power 10 open the dOOr!; of publ ic places 10 African·Americans .:md to put a SlOP to the violence, in effect. to Cil.1I off their dogs, That was w hat Dr. King was addresing in hi5 Birmingham jail letter. In answer to the call 01 the eight white clergymen \0 wail,. Dr. King had w ritten:

F(lr JNn MW I ''''~~ hurd the _rtf. "W<lilf" It mw in Ihe Ulr cftwry Ntgr~ win. <I pim:u,KflUlli!i.zri:y. .. WI how WIlir~J _rt rhlVJ :hru InmJrtd Ifnd fl7:Y ]ta" for ~ur rllfljrifUri~rulllfnd CeJ.!Jvt/l. right> . . .

And described what racism fee ls like on the rece iving end--

I pm it i.s eJ1.SJ for thm wIN hAw OItwr fiu the sti .. gi .. g dttm ~f Ugr~4tU ... r:., 141_,t, 8,,! wIIm JIIU ~ fUn vidlw _br ly.,q, If'U _",",.nd forhm 4t wia IfM ' ,/ftlAt YCUl' sistm IUId /m,thnJ IU whim; rd,nt ,n hllr>t SfflI hA~filld poli~men cum.lri<*, brul4lliu 4"" ffl7f ftjfJ ytlur hUuft hnnlrt/f Ifnd sisttn "',,}, inrp"";'7 . . .

The economic suffocation -

""'no;f"U H~ tlN..m nufrriry ~f!"U, IIW"", ",;JIM" b/;ui bmhm 111UI~ in <In #ir-:ighr <Ilg~ ~f ~umy ; .. :ht mitht ~f en 4Jl.mst _;ely . ..

The crippl ing effect on children -

when JerI roddmfy.!inJ :p, ... IQtI!."t twistrd ~nd JOllr Jpuch stammmng tIS]IIu snll t: aplain t: y.ur nx·y4~ aid dttuy,t~ why Ihr Ctln'tg<> t~ th~ p"b/ir 4mll.<tmlnt p,;,1t chllt h", j rm b.,.., Ildutrtu..d en u&~i,i4n, IVJIi S« INn welli", "p in kr IJttJe ryt$whm sJu is ~Id thttt FlmllJwrI if d.tnd III collmd c!.i!tbrn. iVJd IU the tkpmsi"!J cwu.iJ ~f inftrioriry lorgi'" II/J form in Mr littk mmt4 ~,;nJ sa htr bttin rc dim", "" linie f<rUMliry by UltmlKwwlfydtllri4pi"! It bt'tlnnm fllWIlrr/. whiY pupk ruhm JII" hAw II/J rona€! <Vf ~ for . fiw-J!tU,/J w • .ullml In agtImmtg ,..<hoI.' .n.dJ, wil, Jq whj~ JH<IPk PUt roIortd "..pI; u ""un?" . .•

The burdens on movement -

tuhm :1ft' t4M It trrm £(I1I1W] driw ."" fi"J it lJ«/fJIlry te sJnp n;th' ajiu-"iQtt in th~ fU1.CMJftlrfllble (~of:pJIr /JUte_bitt iNnI_ M meu/wilJ Ileupt YO'" .•

12

/\nd, fin,}II,.. and most opPI~s{ivc, the dehumani/ation -

'if/JeI' JIm ,lrr humiliated day in and rUJ om by n";;",,,ng; ".'<''' "ad;"g; "while" mf1l

,md ",0/""£'; when .r~ur fir" n""", bd'O""" 'tI'crsff" "July"",. middle ""me bnv/JIej ''It~/' (h~we1N' old pIt nt) atui.'fOur [III nil"'" INwrn", '.'!~I}}1, """d wi,,,, ) '011' lIJJF ~nd mother .-m' wt'rr givm rh,' rerp~creJ nib '}.frs. "; whi'n 1M! ilrt f,,,rri,d hy d".1 Imd fl~unkd by mgiJl by,}', ftcr rJ.,u)<Ju ar~ t! N~gro, li~ing "0)1l>lImI11 at tlF··tcc ,t~""" "eo", quir~ hlliw;,,! what W o:ptct >Ii'OCr, and plagued wi,h itlmrfeilr, "tid outer m;"'l-tmmt,; wit", .IOU rI" ferro" lighting" d'J'P"''''litlg -<my 0{ ",wi""/i",,," "; ." then ,)'flU wilt ,mdemmuj ,dry wr jind it di!Jiculr To 'mit

Following t\ie church rallies, we arrived back in Lincolnsville about 6 :30 dm Wednesday morning, got a If'w hOllrs slttp, ,1Ild were back in [Jr. Hayling's oilice at 11. I got together with Henry SchwilrLsch,ld, who hdd recruited me for this stint and who h~d comco down from New York lor the pre5S conference. in the edrlv afternoon when we cmivecl at the church, IIi'nry sairJ, ' Would you liki' to mttt Ur. King?' Wdlking around the side of the church, W~ approacheci a grollp of men.

r-"., "'."L;" I "',I,,, K",,! . .-",,,",, ,,1 ''''1 "" '" ,I .. " .--..' .~. "' , . ""'5" ""'"","" '" , $., ~L.9J""'" I.""" ,H, '"' b 0' 0 ~of>'-:o do!: '" "" i, cI,;',,," bock'" pil.

Henl)' introduced me to Dr, King dnd to hi~ chief dssist~nt. Hosed VVilli,lm:i. W", :ihook h,lnds. Dr. King IVa;: shorter ~nd ~:lighlly s10ckier than I exp<.."<:.\c'(L The four 01 us wdlked into d ,m~11 loom of the ch"fch, where Dr, King invited me to sit with him while thf' others got busy preparing lor thf' press comerconce. We ch~1t('Cl for d few mlnules belore he was called away. I can"ot recall a WOI'U tklt was sc;iu; I remember only his big oren face, his selltle wide eyes.

At 1 pm Ur. King, lhcon f-Iem,!, spoke to the medii!, Lhere in full force, and hailed Judge Sil1lpsoll'S order against the busines;;!"S and thf' Manury gang.

As thf' pr!"Ss conlerf'nce WdS winding down, Fric Chamblis, the Ii!w student who met me at the ~irport three days earlier, introciuced me to ReverenLi Johnoon. dn African-Aillericdn l1linisterirom Daytona 8each, forty milf's snuth of Sf. Augustinf', ] I .. told us th"t !hlf'f' nights earlif'f four black j(,..n~gers seeking

13

service <II a ' white" d rive- in restaur,!!'U h(ld beell chased and a';5(lulled by 5eVer.J1 white men, who then called Ih~ police ;md had them drrest Ihe foor youngsters plu~ five othe rs ncarby. All nine wt're charged w ith disorderly conduct, and seven were still in jail. They were scheduled to be charged in City court th~ next morn ing.

Frie and I hit the typewriter<; in Dr. Hayling's office and prep;;red a two-page 'Petition for Removd. I.' This legal dev ice was one of th t' magic bullets in the arsenal of materia ls which the LCDC furnished to its volunteers before we came SoIl\h. The petition invoked a previously little known fed e ral law w hich allowed th ose who claimed that local courts would not protect the ir civi l risht~ to ' ,emove" the ir cases to the federal courts. Once it was fil~ the local court had 00 power 10 act unti l the federa l court decidro whethCf" the removal pet ition W,lS well founded. The force of the petit ion was Ihat. just by fil ing it in f€defa l w url, we could temporarily ha lt the Daytona proceedings unli l th£" dust had settled. It was a power p lay to lei the locals know Ihal lhey could be called \0 account. Eri ... and I drovf' to J;u:ksonv ille a nd got ,he petition fi led by 5:15 pnl. The next day we would ~rvc notice Orllhe Daytona Beach proseUJtOT and judge thot Ihe case<; ar,~ inst the nine black teens h~d been removed to federal ((Jurt.

That nlghl we all attended a ra ll y at the church in lim:olnsv ill e. Reverend Ki ng and Hosea Williams ~poke with sti rring passion. Then Henry 5thwMl,(,(hild, breathing fire, railed against the !!r~nd jury for dragging its feet in Investigating and proposing wlutioos (or the civil rights c risis in S1. Augustirw. Grand juries usually con,ides- only spccifi(, criminal ( harges, but in some states they are aUlhOfiled to address problems mort' bfoadly. Dr. King and Dr. H(lyling had targeted lhe t;rand jury as a mechanism 10 pressult' SL Augu<;tine's politic(ll '!nd busint'S5 est.<Ibl ishmenlS. In Apri l, Or. Harling had f'Ven filed a lengthy petition dct.l iling the oppressiun of 51. AuguSline's black community w ilh the Org,lnization oi Arncri('}n States. 51. Au~n)st i n'" was p taced in the international as well as the nalion.!1 ~lighL

THE TIDE TURNS

At 7 am the next morning, Thursd~y, August 6lh, Fric and I left for DaYlona BP.<lch, arriving at 8 :)0 for a "Icetlng with Reve<£nd /ohn o;on and a 10edl

black attorney, Joseph Ha tchell. We th t'll wenl 10 the court huuse wlW'fE' we met with th~ Uaytona Beach City Attorney, l ouis Ossinsky, Jr., a young Jewish man who displayed none of Ihe usua l nos tit itY 10 us ou~ide agitators. I told him we wf!le OIppearing for the nine boys scheduled for a rraignment thar morn ing and served him with a copy of Ihe federa l n?Olo\'a1 petit ion we had just tiled. He said he would no!: oppose the suspension oj the city coun proceedings (j/ the release (he n ine <rcnl5en.

14

Ossinsky then accompanied me to the chambers of judge Robert Durden, the Municipal Court judge, explained why I was there, informed the judge of the petition removing the casf'S to federal court, and said that the city had no objection. Ossinsky thus created an ambiance in which I could, without offending the judge, serve him with the document which deprived him of authority in the case by alleging that he would not provide a fair trial. It was agreed that the teenagers would be released on low bonds.

At 9:45 am, Judge Durden convened the court, our case was called, arld the rlirle youths were brought before the b€llch, seven in prison clothes. Hatchett and I stepped forward. J was fulfilling a fantasy I'd had since, at seventeen, I'd read Haywood Patterson's "Scottsboro Boy," the story of nine black youths framed for rape and sentenced to death in Scottsboro, Alabama in 1932. Judge Durden permitted me to appear as counsel, and to announce the removal petition for the record. OssTnsky said that the city agreed with us that this court had no jurisdiction to proceed, and the judge said that no further steps would be t\ken pending the federal court's action. Then, on my request, the judge reduced the bonds to $100 each.

When the court session ended J addressed the parents and relatives of the teenagers, and later after they were released about 11 :30 am, the youths themselves, on our intention to follow through with this matter as a civil rights case. They were awed and grateful. J was too.

In the afternoon, we met with Louis Ossinsky arod the city manager, Norman Hickey. J suggested that the St. Augustine furor began with incidents like this one. They said they would get together with the Mayor and the City Commission and recommend issuing special orders to the police, who they acknowledged were a problem. They agreed to consider dropping the charges against the nine youngsters, and J said ilthey did so, we would refrain from suing over the arrests. Ossinsky and Hickey emphasized that they did not want Daytona Beach to turn into another 51. Augustine.

That evening back in the office, we prepared a written statement for the African- American members of a biracial committee appointed by the grand jury to address St.. Augustine's racial problems_

On Friday afternoon, August 7th, we went to Jacksonville and appeared before JlIdge Simpson in his chambers. As anticipated, the lawyers for the restaurants and hotels asked Judge Simpson to stay his August 5th order to serve black people until their appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit was decided. That could take weeks or months. After listening to us - Earl Johnson. Marty Fox and I all spoke _. Judge Simpson denied the stay. But he said that, depending on what the Supreml' Court did in a similar case in Atlanta, he might give the defendants a limited stay for just twelve days to let them ask the appeals court for a stay. Judge Simpson then telephoned the clerk's office of the United States Supreme Court in Washington and asked when justice Black was expected to rule on a request for a stay in the Atlanta ca>€'. He was informed that Justice Black's ruling was expected on Monday. Judge Simpson, brushing aside my suggestion that further delay might revive Klan resistance, leaned on us, and we reluctantly agreed to hold off further demonstrations over the weekend until noon on Monday.

15

Ear ly the next morning, !ia\urday, ,'-\arty t ax retumed to Nf'W Je~, .md AI Dorfman took the weekel}d ofi in -rampa. t wenl to Jacksonville and spent an hour and a half chaning wi th Judse Simpson about all the civil rights matters in the works, both in aoo out of the courts. I showed him a newspaper report that the restaurants' and hote ls' effort to get a st~y was to buy enough time to (onvert their busine5se5 into ' private' clubs, so they could continue to exclude blacks. I told the Judge there was no way we could delay lest in!! beyond Monday, thai

we had caught hell for agreeing to hold off unti l then. The Judge grirmed. and J scn500 that he would not pusl1 us further to hold off o n testing and protests. The Judge said he thought the private club mdneuver would be broken by test cases. We talked about Hess M.1nucy and whether he was complying with Judge Simpson's A~ust 5th order d irec::ling him to call off his hoods. Judge Simpson said he dkl not have much confidence in a biracia l committre whose black members had been selected by th .. white establishment.

That evening, Fred Martin, a white worker for the Southern Christ ian LeadefShip COf'lference, drove me to the a irport in Jacksonville to meel Alvin Bronste in, a lawyer w ith J one· man plJd ice in upstate New York who was replacing Marty Fox. I didn 't know it then, but that WJS the beginning of a lifelong fri endship. The day ended with Dr. Hayl ing taking me to hang out at a UncolnsvilJe cafe with some of the locals, ordinary people who 'd gotten c<lught liP in the movement.

O n Sunday, AI Blonstein, pull ing roe along wi th him, jumped he"ddlong into the chaos that we called filcs_ Working all day under his gu idan r.~~ we at last got the office into irltell i!l;ible shape.

On Monday, AugUSt 10th, AI and J spent the afternoon in Judge Simpson's chamhf'rs waiting for j u ~tice Black's lulirlg In thc Atlanta civi l rights cases. Final ly, just before 5 pm, the 5upr~me Court cieri:: telephoned judge Simpson al"ld read justice Black'~ rul ing deoying a stay of a U.S. District Court Older forcing Atl.-mta restauran ts and hotels to obey thc Civil Rights Act of 1964 and open their doors to African- Americans_ At laM, judge Simpson denied a stay. 51. Augustine bus inesses had to serve blacks or face contempt of coun f)ena lli es_

Iha l same afternoon, black citizens rf$urned the ir testing of whi te faci lities in St. Augustine. The law enlOl(:ement authorities, as usua l, were of no bt!lp in protecti ng flirican-Americans seeking service. The FBI, as usual, said they were there only as observers, and it was up to the local authorities to ma inta in order. The state troopers sa id they too were only observers and it was up to the city police to mJH"lta in order. The city police said they would not enforce the Civi l Rights Act beciluse it was a federal law.

That's why it sometimes took brigades of federal troops or 'lorthern lilI'oYcrs to enforce the law in the South.

As matters turned out, there was only one indelen! IMt day. A grol,lp of white men taunted two black teenagers who had just been served il l a Dairy Queen, "md one of the men, a. Manucy named Herbe~ threw an ice cream cone Of'lto the shoulder of a youth named Willie Singleton.

"

That the Klan had been reduced to verbal taunts and ice cream missiles was a sign of the ch,mged atmosphere. We were intent on leaving them no edgc_ The next day, Tuesday, I accompanied the two youngsters into downtown St. Augustine to the office of justice of the Peace G. Marvin Grier, the hard-core racist who had acquitted the Klansmen who beat Dr. Hayling and his friends. He looked incredulous when I told him we were there to swear out arrest warrants against Herbert Manucy for assault with an ice cream cone.

'You think throwin' a ice cream cone is a crime?" he asked. 'Its assault and battery,' I said. 'Boy, where did you go to law school? 'Harvard.' 'Didn't they teach you that you need a injury for assault?" ' No,' I said, 'assault is putting someone in apprehension of an

unconsented-to touching, and a battery is an unconsented-lo touching.' Grier paid no attention. He didn't care what the law was. But he did care

that I had a big brother in jacks.onvi!le named Bryan Simpson, 50 he finally agreed to issue a warrant charging Manucy with disorderly conduct.

In the evening, Ai Bronstein and I met with james Kelly, the state trooper in charge of the ,tate', investigation of civil rights matters in St. Augustine. Among other things, Kelly provided mug shots of a group of local hooligan, which enabled one of our clients, james Hauser, to identify Herbert Manucy and four other white men who, on June 28th at the Fairchild plant where they alJ work, had attacked and hospitalized him. Given the limits imposed on Kelly by his superiors, he was quite a decent man, sympathetic and cooperative with our efforts.

By Wednesday, August 12th, testing at the restaurants and hotels was going smoothly with no denials of sefllice_ I began the work of wrapping up my stay in St.l\uglistine by preparing a series of memoranda and drafts of complaints on the matters I was leaving behind for the next group to carry forward in our lag-team liligation. Our court filings usually had the name oi a Florida attomey on them, sometimes Earl johnson in Jacksonville, and sometimes Tobias Simon, a prominent white civil rights lawyer in Miami. Murray Unger, a Daytona Beach attorney referred to me by Toby Simon, came to take over the Daytona Beach cases and some problems in Ocala.

In the afternoon, I drove to Ihe Fairchild plant to pick up James Hauser to take him downtown to swear out warrants for the assault on him. As I pulled into the parking lot, there was Herbert Manucy harassing Hauser. I accompanied Hauser to Ihe ofiice of Magistrate Grier, before whom my welcome mat was wearing thin. Grier again balked at issuing a warrant for assault and battery, even though this time we could claim injuries. Now his excuse was that we had no witnesses. Finally he agreed to isslie a warrant, against a Manucy gang member named Coleman, for a 'peace bond,' meaning Coleman would have to post a money bond which he would forfeit if he again threatened Hauser.

17

Crier's sense of law was byzantine -- dt fir,t he declined LO issue the warrant Ix,<:au,c Hauser quoLc'CI Colem~n as h,wing said, "You will get your hE'dU bedt in' Grier argoed this was not a threat becausc il did nol sugge>t that ColPfllan would beat Hauser's head in, whereupon Hauser remembered that Coleman had said, "I will beat your head in," and Grier is>ueu the warranL.

While I was deal ing with Crier, AI Bronstein Wd, h;wing J fruitful ,)ftcrnoon with Judge Simpson, who issued an order requiring equal treatment of blacb; dt Flagler Ilospit;]!. judge :;impson was sympathetic to our IflJbility to get the local police to prolecl Africa-Americans seeking Sf'rviee at public pIJcc'S, and said he would telf'jJhone the State Attorney General. AI and I decKled that irl addition to the disorderly charge I'd gotten the m<lgistrate to issue dgJinst Herbert MJnucy, we'd also file a petition wilh judge Simpson to hold M<lnuey in contempt for the ice cream irlcident.

My replacemerlt, Paul Greenberg, an attorney from New Jer~y, arrived in the late afternoon.

In the morning of my last day in St. Augustine. Thursday, August 13th, Bronstein ~nd I drove to the fairchild pl<lnt and met with Mdnager W. Hall and his assistant, CrollCh. They had a wcll-developed explanation for their inaction ;rl the alt<!ck on Hauser, which included supposed dis.crepancie> in Hauser's story and a medical repolt indicating only a head abrasion. We let them know we thought it was a whitewash. I told Lhem I had personally witnBsed Herl:x:rt Manuey harassing Ilauser in the Fairchild parking lot only y~terday. We said they'd better make sure their black cmployees were rlot bothered any more.

In the afternoon AI and I had an argument by telephone with Toby Simon, the Miami civil righ15 lawyer. Al and I wanted to s.chedule for the coming Monday the contempt actions against ,\tanucy g~ng members who were still harassing blacks. This was the date judge Simpson rtad sUgge5ted, and we wanted to maintain the momentum, the sense of day to d~y urgency. Simon insisted the hearings bE' later in the week so that he could be trtere, altrtough his presence was not n~essary, and fin~lly said he would telephone Judge Simpson to a~k for the laler scheduling. We felt he WJS putting his own convenier;ce ahead of lhe 5pecd that would I:x:sl ;;.erve the clients. It was one of several clashes we had wilh Simon in our short time there.

Ldter I telephoned judge Simpson to SilY

goodbye. lie praised our diort and the 'luality of our work. At 5 pm, with some regret, t s~id goodhye to [Jr. Hayling, got a ride to jacksonville and flew down to Miami for a weekend with my parents before returning to VVashington.

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lddx.>1K:<)

LOOKING BACK

In his Birmingham jail letter, Martin luther King described the goal of his non-violent protest movemefl\:

roh", is II I:;pe ~f. .. umion that is "tm>ary for growth. Just /l5 &,c;au> flit wat it wilS ntctsSary ~ creart ~n in tht mind fa that indi1liduais could rife from th, bDlUiagt of myths Ilnd hlliftruths .... W( 1n'lI$t su the n.ad of hIJ.ving nMviokm gadflies Ie cmm the !rind cf tens;on in wcUty that will ht/p mm .m from the dJrk dtptm pI prtjudut find mei"m til th~ m4jmic hdghts of undmumding "nd bror}",hbOti.

That is exadly what happened to Judge Bryan $imp>on. Near the end of my last visit with him, the Saturday before I left SI. Augustine, Judge Simpson took out a file of what he ruefully called his 'fan mail ,' hate-filled tetters attacking him for his recent civil rights rulings. It was deeply painful to him to have become a pariah in his own community. But as the cases kept coming before him, he felt he had no choice. When the chips were down, this innately decent man was moved to take a stand.

In fact, the transformation experienced by Judge Simpson was universal. America was never the same after the summer of 1964. The country experienced a political and social revolution triumphant, without massive violence and bloodshed. Street protests and the American system of law were at their best, demonstrating their capacity to transmute the heat of the country's social struggles into courtroom battles, and, in doing >0, to strengthen the nation. Racism and discrimination, although still endemic to this day, were dramatically diminished. The 19605 paved the way for the following decades which saw Airican-Americans capture the mayorship of New York City, the governorship of Virginia, <ll1d the top foreign policy positions of the federal gover'1mCnL

In the end, the civil rights struggle was a great healing for the country. And critical though they were, the law and the lawyers were only supporting players. The tension that gave rise to the changes was created by thousands of black people who physically and morally faced down the dubs, the fire hoses, and the dogs of hatred.

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We (hiln~cd, 100. AI limllsteln Wffit hume jllst 10 w ionlhings up l>t1ore returning as the di ' !'f.tol of l CDC 's ~\ l thc r!1 Op('l;ltioIlS. RIO::~il rd 5obol- who had Introduced me to Henry Xhw;jr~s.(hild ilnd thus to St. Au(;u<;tine - <oon left our washillgton law fi l l11 to t)t'c:ome l COC director in r--.,ew Orl€d" '. ~dore their years in the ~lIth wt'rt' uver, Sobol was arrested o n a trumped up r harp;1' ~nd Bronstein was ilss.lultM by a ~herjff. Btlt lhey endured. I!'ilving <I vail of 1q:31 victories. ' Itoft my Idw .-i rm lWO years after St. Augustine to dil~1 thof' \-V-dshington DC ACl U. ~b()1 and I ~liIyed in c ivil richts lor over a decade. and Bronste in IS ~Iill dl il al thi<; wri ting.

I l ike In think of the Sixties, no t as a l05t Colden Af;e, but ir'llhc spirit of Dr. King's clo;ing words lO the eight w hile clergymen in his Birmingham jail letter:

1%4 2001

Kollph Temple

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